Harvest

Those who snowshoe know that it is much easier to walk where others have already gone. They have left a trail to follow. Step in their tracks, and the going is easy.

“It’s just all the Lord.” Deacon Patrick Finn says he owes his vocation to God’s grace and providence.

Since the permanent diaconate was restored in the Diocese of Portland, there has only been one deacon serving in northern Aroostook County, Deacon Don Clavette, ordained in 2004.

Nathaniel McGrath, age 17, rarely takes off the crucifix that hangs around his neck.

We now arrive at what Pope Francis intends to be the core of The Joy of Love: Chapter Four, which we will look at now, and Chapter Five, which we will look at in the next issue of Harvest.

This year, we commemorate the 500th anniversary of the beginning of that series of events we call the Reformation. When Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral on October 31, 1517, he had no intention of damaging the unity of the Church.

Last January, Pope Francis announced that the next Synod of Bishops would address itself to young people inviting them to think about their vocation to be members of the Church.

As president of Mercy Hospital and a senior vice president of the Eastern Maine Health System (EMHS), Charlie Therrien knows well the challenges facing the health-care industry.

“I’m floating on air. That is something that can only happen once in a lifetime.” That is how Deacon Mark Tuttle, from St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish, Scarborough, describes what it is like to be ordained a deacon of the Catholic Church.

It was a call to change the way he was living his life. That is how Arrin Farrar of Plymouth now views a plane crash that nearly killed him.

With her guitar in hand and a broad smile on her face, Sister Kathryn Kelm, SSS, has a way of warming the hearts of all she meets.

"It’s certainly been a love affair for me.” That is how John Mullen describes his 38 years at Cheverus High School in Portland, nine of them spent teaching, two as assistant principal, and 27 as acting principal and principal. 

Pope Francis devotes Chapter III of The Joy of Love to a summary of Church teaching on marriage and the family. For the Holy Father, this teaching is no “dry and lifeless doctrine.”

Let me set the scene for you.  It’s the Last Supper, the night when Jesus will be arrested and the night before He will die on the cross. 

Winter can be long in Maine.  Just about everyone eagerly awaits the 4th of July, the summer, and the good weather.  When I first came to Maine, I was told that you don’t leave Maine in summer.

Led by three diocesan seminarians, a group of pilgrims went on a journey this August to learn about the life, love, and sacrifice of a missionary priest who ministered along the banks of the Kennebec River 300 years ago.

A mission trip, the sacrament of reconciliation, and a walk to the library.

Christina Merritt is a determined young woman.  She works full-time, is taking college courses, and cares for her two young children.

Cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant, squash.  Those are just a few of the vegetables being grown in a new community garden at Holy Name of Jesus Church in Machias.

“This is where cows are milked.” Dan Perron, co-owner of the Sumner Valley Farm in Sumner, explains to a group of teenagers what it’s like to live and work on a farm.

In the first chapter of The Joy of Love, we saw a lectio divina, or sacred reading, of Psalm 128 which offered us a Biblical perspective on marriage and family life.

When the revised Order of Christian Funerals went into effect in the United States in 1989, one of the new features was the following rubric after the communion prayer and before the final commendation: “A member or a friend of the family may speak in remembrance of the deceased before the final commendation begins.”

It is finally summer.  Winter has ended at last, and we can enjoy good weather. In the midst of winter, I had the privilege of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land...

For the past 23 years, Tom Garwood of Buxton has been accompanying his wife, Eva, to Mass.  They raised four daughters in the faith, as well.  Until this Easter, however, Tom himself was not Catholic. He was Methodist.

Aldea Leblanc wants to be sure people in her community don’t go hungry.  It is why she volunteers at the new St. Peter Thrift Store & Food Pantry in Bingham.

There aren’t many venues in which you’ll hear “Baa Baa Black Sheep” and “Rub-a Dub-Dub” mixed together with “Jesus Christ is Risen Today” and “Ave Maria.”

“Hi dear! How are you doing?” Following a gentle knock on the door, Frank Steele cheerfully enters the room of a resident of St. Mary’s d’Youville Pavilion in Lewiston. “My name is Frank. It’s nice to meet you,” he says.

“Give your all and God gives you one hundredfold.” Time and time again, that is what Sister Linda Mae Plourde says she has found throughout her years as a Sister of the Presentation of Mary.

In this first chapter, the Holy Father invites us to contemplate the married couple pictured in Psalm 128.

I fear that we have lost something important in our contemporary spirituality of the Eucharist.  Oh, we are good at receiving holy Communion. 

This Harvest arrives in the midst of the joy of Easter. We celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus which the catechism tells us is the “the crowning truth of our faith in Christ” (#638).

With the unknown, there is sometimes fear.  But with knowledge, comes the opportunity for friendship. It was with that belief in mind that Catholics and Muslims sat down together to share supper

The sun has barely risen, but Sister Patricia Pora, director of the Office of Hispanic Ministry, is already in her car headed from Portland to Cherryfield.

Betsy Bricker, age 37, looks forward to every second Wednesday of the month.

At age 82, Sheila Benner’s vision isn’t as good as it used to be. A look around her Brunswick apartment will tell you she has still has an artist’s eye for decorating...

Whether she is competing on the soccer field, practicing a dance routine, or performing in a play, Delia Bonner says she always tries to make sure that her faith shines through.

Contemporary life challenges any married couple or family who seeks to live by the way of Christ.

With spring in the air, the media turns its attention to weddings. In this regard, I recently came across an article that spoke positively of the marriage workshop the author and his wife were required to take before their Catholic wedding.

There are frustrations, I am sure, in every line of work.  So, too, in ministry.  I would like to share one of mine with you, if I might. 

Hoping to follow in his father’s footsteps and practice medicine, Dr. Hassan Mahmoud began his residency at Maine Medical Center in Portland in July. 

They visit nursing homes and bring comfort to those who are ill. 

For 50 years, Steve and Kathy Beirne have been celebrating the joy of love. “We not only are married, but we love marriage,” says Steve.

“What is the purpose of a spoon? While most of us might think of it as an eating utensil, students at Saint James School in Biddeford are likely to have other ideas.

Stacks of paperwork surround Deacon Al Burleigh as he sits at his desk at Saint Mary of the Visitation Parish in Houlton. 

A smile spread across Michelle Kessler’s face as she was handed the key to her new home by Father Frank Murray, pastor of Saint Paul the Apostle Parish in Bangor.

A medal celebrating 15 years of sobriety proudly hangs around Scott McClelland’s neck.

Imagine putting together a jigsaw puzzle with each piece weighing in at between 10 and 20 pounds.

With these words, we brought the Jubilee Year of Mercy to a close in our cathedral in Portland on the Feast of Christ the King. 

Recently, the Holy See promulgated a new instruction regarding cremation, "To Rise with Christ.”  By now, I suppose most American Catholics are aware of the fact that cremation is now allowed in the Catholic Church, after many years of being prohibited.  That change in the law has been with us since the early 1960’s.

A freshman at the University of Maine in Orono, 18-year-old Amber Delaney is settling into college life.